The Resigned member of the Lebanese Parliament and President of the Independence Movement, Michel Moawad, stressed that Lebanon needs to conclusively resolve the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons in tandem with fighting misgovernance and corruption, pointing to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s latest declarations as yet another confirmation that Hezbollah’s rockets are, in reality, Iranian rockets.

Speaking to France 24, Moawad said: “Hezbollah’s arsenal is not the arsenal of Lebanese resistance to Israel but that of a transnational Iranian militia that operates in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and is involved in security operations across the globe.”

Moawad considered the issue of arms to have created an internal and external sovereignty problem for Lebanon, as it has rendered the state incapable of monitoring and protecting its borders and turned Lebanon into a platform for Iranian defiance of the world. It has thus left Lebanon’s geopolitical position in contradiction with its identity, economy, and its commercial, cultural, and financial links, as well as with the Lebanese diaspora in Arab and Western states.

He then added: “Lebanon is faced with two choices because it is suffering from an unprecedented crisis: either it chooses to change or the Lebanese “commit collective suicide,” stressing that breaking the impasse requires dealing with the causes, not just the results. Firstly, by restoring neutrality, and secondly by returning to the constitution and building a decentralized civil state that balances efficiency and pluralism, as the solution cannot emerge from the parties’ bickering or the spoil-sharing whereby every faction has the right to a veto, and no one has the decision in their hands. Thirdly, we must implement structural reforms and fight corruption, in addition to reforming the foundation of the regime, its working mechanisms and decision-making framework, and implementing financial reforms.

Moawad believes that Lebanon would face the specter of chaos and civil war if the regime is not reformed through institutions and added: “the final solution consists of holding early parliamentary elections, which would enable the reformist movement to have its say and thereby give rise to a “government of mission” composed of experts and, more importantly, independents, because individuals whose decision is not in their hands are of no benefit.

He explained that his resignation from parliament was the result of an ethical decision and his conviction that change and reform for the inside was no longer possible after the explosion at the Port of Beirut amid the government and the parliament’s inability to take responsibility. The priority today, he went on, is building on what the October Revolution has achieved in order to build a broad opposition that brings together reformist forces, the revolution’s groups, and the diaspora an opposition with a vision and program.

When asked about his intention to run for the presidency soon, Moawad replied: “for me, the cause comes before the position; I would not consider making concessions for any position. The real battle and my cause today is retrieving Lebanon’s identity, its sovereignty and our freedom to choose the Lebanon we want.” He concluded: “I do not intend to rule over a dismembered state, and I do not want to be part of the Maronite – national conflict that has left the country devastated because of the ambitions of a few.”